Cabinet is likely to approve 12th Plan document tomorrow

"The Union Cabinet is likely to discuss and approve the draft 12th Plan document in its meeting scheduled on Thursday," a source said.

The document has already been approved by the full Planning Commission chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 15.

Once the document is approved by the Union Cabinet, then it will be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the apex decision making body, for final approval.

The NDC headed by the Prime Minister with all Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers on board, is the final authority to approve the five-year long policy document.

In view of the ongoing global problems, the average annual growth target for the 12th Plan has been scaled down at 8.2 per cent from 9 per cent envisaged in the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan.

During the 11th Plan (2007-12), India has recorded an average economic growth rate of 7.9 per cent. This, however, is lower than the 9 per cent target envisaged in 11th Plan.

Besides other things, the 12th Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent agriculture sector growth during the Plan period. The growth target for manufacturing sector has been pegged at 10 per cent.

The total plan size has been proposed at Rs 47.7 lakh crore, 135 per cent more that the investments realised in the 11th Plan (2007-12).

As regards to poverty alleviation, the Commission proposed to bring down the poverty ratio by 10 per cent during the Plan period. At present, the poverty is around 30 per cent of the population.